Faux Impasse
by cosmictrap
Summary: Secret Santa Fic: Jess and Nick are stubborn people with different world views. Now they're standing in her room, arguing about whether or not to indulge in a threesome with their landlord; both of them know why they were testing waters, and it'd be a lie if they didn't want to find out. Except the landlord is a major inconvenience. A different take on 'Landlord' episode.


_Dear myfictionalfavourites,  
_

 _Hope you enjoy this!_

 _ **Prompt: First time they get together**_

 _Set in Season 1_

 _I chose this particular scene because I always did wonder what would've happened if she had just kissed him instead of pushing him away. Probably an earlier start to their relationship._

 _Your NotSoSecretAnymore,  
_ _Santa._

* * *

 **Faux Impasse**

* * *

The thing about Jessica Day was that she was stubborn, and the thing about Nick Miller was that he too was stubborn. Another thing about Jessica Day was that she believed people were good; Nick Miller did not. Now they stood arguing about having a threesome with their landlord to prove a point.

"Look, if you feel so bad, then just get in there," he said, smirking.

Nick knew that they were at an impasse. Frankly, it wasn't really an "impasse" because there was a very, _very_ easy way out of it. As he stood there arguing with her, he couldn't help but wonder why he couldn't just admit he had been wrong (even though he knew he wasn't and _people did suck_ ) and back out of this extremely weird situation. He failed to understand why he was goading her (didn't _want_ to understand why he was goading her).

He _knew_ he was being extremely provocative, and also knew exactly what to say to get her to back off, but though he would never admit it, he was curious to see where this would lead. Which is why he found himself looking at her mockingly before continuing, "Just dip your toes into the pool of possibility."

For added effect, he threw open her bedroom door with a smug smile, not taking his eyes off her face. Then, he turned to look at Remy, internally cringing at the sight of him stretching in his boxers. He knew that should have been motivation enough to just back off, but he decided that he would break the deadlock only if it got too much for him; if it _actually_ came to having a threesome with their landlord and _Jess._

"Hey, Remy, let's get weird and toss that ball around, huh?" then he turned back to Jess, face devoid of emotion. "So turned on."

"Okay, you would have a threesome with that man to get me to admit I'm wrong?" asked Jess, staring at him incredulously.

 _This is not about_ him _exactly, but okay._

As he looked at Jess, her blue eyes and her annoyed face which was usually full of sunshine, he forced himself to push away the intrusive thoughts that had become so regular. He didn't particularly like these thoughts, but not because of the thoughts themselves - they were quite pleasant actually, all rainbows and unicorns. It was the aftermath of those thoughts that he wasn't quite a fan of; always ended with him falling off of the aforementioned rainbow with the crashing realisation that those thoughts were better left in the dark recesses of his mind.

 _They would never come to fruition anyway._

"Oh, I think we could do a lot worse than Remy," he said nonchalantly. "He's got strong arms."

And there it was. _That look_. Her blue eyes darkened just a little bit, and without blinking once, she removed her shoes and threw them aside, as his breath hitched a little. Was this happening? Without taking her eyes off him, she said, "Let's have a threesome."

 _Wow. This was… happening?_

Opening the door to her bedroom, she walked into it, leaving Nick a little confused. Yes, he'd been curious as to where this would go, but honestly, _this_ wasn't where he wanted it to be. He groaned, running a hand down his face wondering how this could be good. He knew perfectly well that his motivations weren't exactly pure _or_ to just make a point.

 _I will dwell on that thought later._

He slapped himself on each cheek before entering her bedroom, apprehension and just a hint of curiosity taking over his mind.

Remy was saying something weird about ménaging, but Nick's eyes were on Jess, in that damned cream coloured dress with the black lacework.

 _Wow, this is literally the worst time to have these thoughts._

"This is happening with this guy," Nick said nervously. "This is happening right now, Jess."

"Yeah," she said stubbornly.

Jess wasn't completely sure where she was going with this argument. She had no idea when it had stopped being about "people are good", because every rational part of her brain was telling her that having a threesome with Remy and _Nick_ would really do nothing to prove her point. But here she was, watching Nick nervously. A small part of her, she could adit to herself, was nervous with excitement. It wouldn't be a lie that she did find Nick attractive (not that she'd ever admitted it to him) and well, every once in a while wondered what it would feel like to kiss him. Strangely, those moments were when they were bickering about something mundane. She didn't know what it was about their bickering that made her feel... _twirly..._ there, she'd said it. And honestly, this whole situation wasn't so bad.

If only Remy would just leave.

Remy continued, oblivious to their nervous energy, about how it would probably be a little uncomfortable and the "need to keep talking with each other". Nick was half tempted to throw his hands up defeatedly and storm out of the room. But he didn't want to leave Jess alone in the bedroom with Remy.

When Remy played some music with the idea of relaxing them, Nick was close to snapping but then Remy turned away, and he heard Jess's angry whisper. "Why can't you admit he's a good guy?"

Nick looked at her in disbelief. "We're about to have a _ménage a trois_ because you won't admit you're wrong!"

"I'm just saying he's a _good guy_!" said Jess indignantly.

At this point, Nick was feeling amused, with hints of disbelief. This woman was filled with so much optimism and hope, it was unbelievable. "You're out of your mind."

They argued a little more, dancing awkwardly as Remy approached them again with what he probably thought were words of encouragement. Then, he felt Remy's hands on his shoulders, and he felt like shrinking into himself as he twisted obscenely under Remy's grip. The woman just pushed all his buttons, he thought grimly, as he watched her enjoy his obvious discomfort.

"And I'm going to start unbuttoning your pants and then I'm gonna unbutton my shirt," said Remy, making Nick freeze and look at Jess with panicked eyes. "I'm not gonna take my underpants off. Not right away. I'm gonna keep my underpants on until I let you take my underpants off me."

Remy's hands were all over Nick now and Nick began to feel fear overtaking his curiosity as Remy continued. "Because you are gonna be the underpants captain tonight."

 _Underpants captain!? WHAT?_

"Nick will make a fantastic underpants captain," said Jess smugly, flapping her arms in a dance move.

And then suddenly, they found themselves at an impasse again. Once again, of course, it was merely a faux impasse. It wasn't really a catch-22 situation when Remy put Nick's hand on Jess's shoulder and put hers, on his.

"You two get us started," he said, still sounding obliviously delighted.

"Me and Jess get it started?" asked Nick, nervous now at how dangerously out of control things were getting. All he had to do was drop his hands from her shoulder (which he really didn't want to) and walk out of this room.

"Us two?" said Jess, mirroring Nick's emotion. "Gettin' it started."

"Go ahead," Remy said. "Breathe into each other."

"Oh, yeah, Jess."

"I'm not here," said Remy in the background.

"Relax into the ménage," he said, trying to sound confident.

"Let's get this started, Nick," said Jess nervously.

"You doing this?" asked Nick again, both his hands now holding her elbows. Both of them were gently swaying to the music now, eyes still locked. It really was like Remy wasn't in the room.

"Yes," she said again. "Are _you_ doing this?"

"Yes! I will do it," he said, warningly.

 _Because damn straight he would._

"Alright, okay, we're gonna do this."

"Okay, then let's do this."

"Nick, I _will_ do this!"

 _Please, do._

"Say you're wrong, and it's over."

"I'm not, wrong."

"You can't do this, but I can."

"Okay."

"Let's do this, Nick," she said, looking at him with a look he couldn't quite place.

"Let's do it, Jess."

"I can do it," she almost muttered breathlessly as she saw the slow smile spread on his face, and in almost slow-motion, watched as he stepped towards her and his hands went to her face.

And then, Nick's hands were cupping her neck, fingers in her hair, as bent down to kiss her. She didn't respond for a few seconds, but just as he was about to pull back, her arms went around his neck and she pulled him towards her. Biting his lower lip, she gave him access to her mouth, and he began to kiss her with fervour. They remained locked in an embrace, oblivious to Remy's interjections and Nick reflexively pushed Remy away as he came closer. Neither of them heard Remy leave after a few minutes, grumbling under his breath. Jess's legs wrapped themselves around Nick's waist and his hands were engulfing her back, thumbs grazing her sides as he pulled her closer to him. Jess's fingers threaded through his hair, tugging gently to give her a better angle, and Nick happily obliged.

 _"What is going on here!"_

Both of them froze on the spot and broke away, Nick still holding her as they turned towards the door to see Winston standing in the doorway, his mouth agape.

Jess looked at Nick frantically, and as they made eye contact, they became hyperaware of their position. Jess's face was hovering just a few inches above his, and if Nick strained towards her a little, he would be able plant a kiss on her collarbone.

They were also aware of course, that their lower halves were plastered against each other. He watched with acute amusement as starting from her neck, she slowly turned red. But he had neither set her down yet nor had she made any move to separate herself. They simply stood there, her legs wrapped around his waist, fingers lost in his hair and his arms straining against her back as he held on to her.

"Dining room. _Now_." said Winston, pinching the bridge of his nose, taking in a deep breath. "And thank your lucky stars that I don't think it necessary to call Schmidt. _Yet._ "

With that, he stormed out of her room and both of them stared after him, still frozen to the spot, too afraid to look at each other.

She slowly brought her hands to his shoulder, sensing when he tensed just a little bit. She pressed on them very gently, and he loosened his grip on her back as she unwound herself from around him. As she landed on her feet, she stumbled a little, and Nick caught her elbow to steady her. Both of their eyes were downcast, and they stood there in silence for a few seconds, till she heard Nick sigh and walk out of her room.

Jess wasn't one to be dumbfounded. But as she stood there in her room, she realised that her mind was in a daze. She brought her fingers to her swollen lips, eyes wide. She was not able to form any coherent thoughts in her brain at that moment. She could still feel him in her mouth as he explored it and she shuddered a little at the memory of how he sensuously ran his tongue across the inside of her lower lips.

 _It was a damned fairytale._

"Jessica Day!"

Startled out of her haze by Winston's sharp call, she shook her head and slapped herself on each cheek before hurrying out into the living area.

 _This was going be a long night._

Nick and Jess sat on the couch with their heads downcast, while Winston was pacing in front of them, rambling - Did they know they'd ruined the loft dynamic? Did they even know what they were doing? What were they thinking? Were they even thinking? - without really pausing to allow an answer. Good thing too, because they didn't really have answers to all those questions.

Jess felt petulant and she started worrying her lower lip, wondering if her friendship with Nick had just been ruined. That made her heart sink, because she liked him a lot. She'd gotten so used to all the arguments which filled her with an inexplicable heat, but more than that were the little things that he did so effortlessly for her. As she worried, she froze when she felt her fingers brush against something.

She quickly glanced sideways to see that Nick's hand had inched towards her and was lightly touching her fingertips. She looked at his face questioningly, but his gaze was fixed unseeingly on the pacing Winston.

After few more minutes of being yelled at, she heard Nick sigh. "We're sorry, Winston."

"Sorry doesn't cut it, Nick!"

"First of all, _so what_ if we kissed!" said Nick, throwing his hands up in the air. "We're adults, we can do what we want!"

Jess nodded frantically.

"Doesn't _sound_ like you're sorry." said Winston narrowing his eyes.

"W-Well, we are," said Jess at last, and continued after taking a deep breath. "We're sorry. And-And it won't happen again."

Nick's eyes shot to Jess, and when Jess looked at him, there was an inscrutable expression on his face. She swallowed, not knowing what to say. He hadn't said anything otherwise, and _someone_ had to take a stance. Or it would get too awkward.

"Yeah, Winnie. It was a one-time thing," said Nick quietly, not taking his eyes off of Jess.

Jess felt her heart drop, but nodded mutely in agreement, a smile plastered on her face.

"We got a little carried away, and… it didn't mean anything," he added, finally tearing his eyes away from her.

They both knew that was a lie. They were sure they hadn't imagined those little colours exploding in their minds, the way they fit into each other perfectly or the glimmer of something more in each other's eyes. Winston stared at both of them for a few moments, before shaking his head and heading back to his room. He was only half-convinced of course and rightly so.

Nick and Jess stood up quietly, before nervously shuffling back towards their bedrooms. They both stood in the middle of the hallway, staring at each other with a sort of newfound wonder. Nick started to say something, but then just shook his head.

"Goodnight, Day," he said quietly.

"Goodnight, Miller."

Neither of them made a move to leave but stood there in the hallway quietly. While Nick rubbed the back of his neck in nervousness, Jess bit her lower lip, rubbing one a hand up and down her other arm.

They were at a faux impasse again, testing each other - Who would turn away first? Who would say something first? Would anyone say anything? - an impasse that could so easily be broken.

And this time, it mattered. It mattered a lot, how this impasse would break. They both knew that, and that was what scared them both into silence. Nick started to feel the glimmer of hope he didn't even know had been ignited, start to die as he watched her beseeching eyes search his face for answers. The words were stuck in his throat; he wanted to say them, but he simply couldn't. He wasn't sure how she felt, and did not want to overshare or be at a point where he felt a lot more than she did. He wasn't sure how he would take them.

As she stood watching him, she could see something start to fade away in his face, and felt her heart beat faster in desperation. She could see the question his eyes held; the question she wished he would just ask. But that simply wasn't Nick Miller's style. It was Jess who wore her heart on her sleeve; but it was also her that got hurt. But as she stood in the hall, staring at him, she knew that if she didn't say anything, she would wonder about it forever. Finally, taking a deep breath, she said, "I lied."

He froze, his gaze holding hers as he stared at her unsurely.

"I'm not sorry it happened," she whispered.

With that, she started to turn away, when she felt him grab her elbow and spin her around to face him. His hands wound around her waist, splaying across her back as he leaned in to kiss her. She met his lips with hers as her arms travelled up his chest and wound around his neck, pulling him closer to her. She drew back for breath, and Nick leaned in again to plant two more kisses on her lips, innocent, lingering, full of meaning.

"I lied too," he said breathlessly, as he grazed her cheek with his hand. "It _did_ mean something to me."


End file.
